William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) wrote 37 plays and 157 sonnets. You can find more about him on Goodreads or Wikipedia.

He married Anne Hathaway and had 3 children. She looks great for being nearly 500 years old, but given she’s an actress, she probably has tons of people taking care of her! Oh… that’s right, it’s a different Anne Hathaway. Silly me. I get them confused a lot… probably because I’ve read at least 21 out Shakespeare’s 37 plays. See below for links to all the reviews. I should probably keep on reading…. which one…. feel free to suggest a good one I’ve missed. It’s been a while and although a re-read might work, something “new” is even better.

I adore Shakespeare and took a 4 month course on him in college (many years ago). Saturday mornings 9 to 12… some days, I wasn’t sober enough to have a lot of input, and I think my grade showed it. It was the only class where I didn’t have at least an A-. Very disappointed in myself. Now you probably are too!

I also love the movie Shakespeare in Love. Have you ever seen it? I wonder if that is representative of who he really was… I might have fallen in love myself. And then there’s Shakespeare in the Park.

To see the actual author page and all the reviews, click here. All 20+ reviews I’ve completed are there…

What’s your favorite thing about Shakespeare? What other things have you seen / read about Shakespeare that weren’t actually his own writing?

About Me

I’m Jay and I live in NYC. By profession, I work in technology. By passion, I work in writing. Once you hit my site “ThisIsMyTruthNow” at https://thisismytruthnow.com, you can join the fun and see my blog and various site content. You’ll find book reviews, published and in-progress fiction, TV/Film reviews, favorite vacation spots and my own version of the “365 Daily Challenge.” Since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a characteristic either I currently embody or one I’d like to embody in the future. 365 days of reflection to discover who I am and what I want out of life… see how you compare! Each month, I will post a summary of a trip I’ve taken somewhere in the world. I’ll cover the transportation, hotel, restaurants, activities, who, what, when, where and why… and let you decide for yourself if it’s a trip worth taking. Feel free to like, rate, comment or take the poll for each post. Tell me what you think. Note: All content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

This is truly one of my favorite cozy mystery series and I am sad that it finished in 2013. I didn’t know it was the end of the series and finished reading #17. It felt like it had come to an end, but I assumed it was just a nice conclusive book. Then I checked out some articles on line and learned it was the last one. How sad!

It takes place in a small town outside of Denver, Colorado, where Goldy Bear is a caterer who ends up solving crimes. When she marries Tom, she becomes Goldy Bear Schultz. Each book is usually 25% recipe and 75% mystery story. Always humorous and fun, they range from strong mystery to very lightweight. Easy reads in about 4-hours.

Key Characters

Goldy: Primary sleuth. Mother to Arch. Best Friend to Marla. Wife to Tom. And mentor / boss / mother figure to Julian. She’s been almost killed a few times, and almost killed her ex-husband (Arch’s father) who physically and mentally abused her.

Marla: Goldy’s best friend who follows her to Aspen Meadow, Colorado. Rich divorcee. Helps with the sleuthing from time-to-time. Searching for her next husband. Julian’s aunt (although not known at first).

Tom: Aspen Meadow Police. Falls for Goldy and they eventually marry. They want to start a family together. Step-dad to Arch. Tough but good guy.

Arch: Goldy’s son from her marriage to ex-husband. He’s a teenager for most of the book, learning how to deal with his mother’s antics. Good kid, always respectful and caring with family and friends.

Julian: Marla’s nephew. Had some family issues and ended up coming to work for Goldy during his college years. Brilliant cook. Very sweet guy who has some dating issues.

Diane also wrote a cookbook full of Goldy’s recipes and general life musings. You can see more at: Cookbook. Though I’ve never cooked any recipes, the desserts sound amazing. And to think… you too can eat the murder weapon from some of her crimes!

Link to the Diane Mott Davidson page where you will be able to return in the future to see when I post new reviews and book thoughts. For now, I’ve posted reviews on all 17 books in the series.

About Me

I’m Jay and I live in NYC. By profession, I work in technology. By passion, I work in writing. Once you hit my site “ThisIsMyTruthNow” at https://thisismytruthnow.com, you can join the fun and see my blog and various site content. You’ll find book reviews, published and in-progress fiction, TV/Film reviews, favorite vacation spots and my own version of the “365 Daily Challenge.” Since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a characteristic either I currently embody or one I’d like to embody in the future. 365 days of reflection to discover who I am and what I want out of life… see how you compare! Each month, I will post a summary of a trip I’ve taken somewhere in the world. I’ll cover the transportation, hotel, restaurants, activities, who, what, when, where and why… and let you decide for yourself if it’s a trip worth taking. Feel free to like, rate, comment or take the poll for each post. Tell me what you think. Note: All content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

Jenn McKinlay writes romance, humor, suspense, and mystery fiction. To learn more about her, you can see her profile on Goodreads, her personal website or her Facebook profile.

Two of my favorite things about Jenn McKinlay is her creativity and her down-to-earth and humble personality. You can tell by all her posts [on Facebook about her family, vacations and the writing process] that she is a genuine and caring person. Reading things like those posts about an author help readers feel close to the people who create the stories they love, which in turn develops a strong fandom for the books being written. And she has a lot of books… mostly serial fiction… many of which I’ve read across multiple series. See below for some highlights.

Book Series – Library Lovers Mysteries

Lindsey Norris, director of the Briar Creek Public Library, in Connecticut, has returned to her hometown after losing her position at a bigger library. She’s inherited an interesting group of employees at the new library, plus she’s falling for a few of the people who live around town. The book currently has 8 in the series and often focuses on books and libraries as part of the mystery thrills. Lindsey is a great character, full of fun and surprise. She seems a little reticent to get into a relationship, but it’s getting better. I can’t wait to meet her parents, especially having seen what her brother was like when he was the center of a mystery.

The Cupcake Bakery mysteries feature owners Melanie “Mel” Cooper and Angela “Angie” DeLaura and contains 9 books in the series. These best friends are also openly embracing the dating world and trying to decide which one belongs with their male best friend! Reminds me a little bit of Hannah Swensen from the Joanne Fluke cozy mystery series.

Scarlett has left the US after a disastrous and public break-up, deciding England may be a better place to re-start her life. She comes to visit her cousin and helps run the hat shop, finding murder wherever she goes. I love cozy mystery books that take place in England. I’ve only read one to day, but just purchased the next two which are due to arrive this week. I’ll read them in June. The series has 5 books to date.

I’m Jay and I live in NYC. By profession, I work in technology. By passion, I work in writing. Once you hit my site “ThisIsMyTruthNow” at https://thisismytruthnow.com, you can join the fun and see my blog and various site content. You’ll find book reviews, published and in-progress fiction, TV/Film reviews, favorite vacation spots and my own version of the “365 Daily Challenge.” Since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a characteristic either I currently embody or one I’d like to embody in the future. 365 days of reflection to discover who I am and what I want out of life… see how you compare! Each month, I will post a summary of a trip I’ve taken somewhere in the world. I’ll cover the transportation, hotel, restaurants, activities, who, what, when, where and why… and let you decide for yourself if it’s a trip worth taking. Feel free to like, rate, comment or take the poll for each post. Tell me what you think. Note: All content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

With over 300 book reviews transferred from Goodreads to ThisIsMyTruthNow, my personal website and blog, it’s time to add another feature. I’ve been building a new menu structure in the background over the last few weeks, each time I post a new or updated review. Beginning this week, and going forward each week, I’ll add a new post called “Author Spotlight,” where I will provide a brief overview of an author, the books I’ve read and some thought on the whole subject.

For this first week, I’ve selected one of my favorite authors who has multiple book series, writes in different genres, and where I’ve got some reviews completed, some still to write up and even some books I haven’t read.

Don’t be shy, tell me what you think and what else you want to add / change. First up…

Janet Evanovich currently writes romance and mystery fiction. For more information on her, you can check Goodreads or Fantastic Fiction, two of my favorite sites. She is one of the most prolific and famous writers in these genres during current times, as you can see by just the list of books I’ve read below, as well as the other series mentioned. To dive deeper into the page I’ve created for her, you can click on Janet Evanovich. See below for a sample of the content on her dedicated page. Additional content includes favorite characters, scenes and books.

Book Series – Stephanie Plum Mysteries

I enjoy these books because she is a funny writer, full of bizarre and relate-able characters; some of which I’d love to meet, but some I would like to stay very far away from. Among my favorites, besides the main characters, Stephanie Plum, are Lula and Ranger. I’ve always been a Ranger / Stephanie fan, and although Joe Morelli can be a sweet guy sometimes, I like the dark and dangerous relationship just a bit more.

I’m Jay and I live in NYC. By profession, I work in technology. By passion, I work in writing. Once you hit my site “ThisIsMyTruthNow” at https://thisismytruthnow.com, you can join the fun and see my blog and various site content. You’ll find book reviews, published and in-progress fiction, TV/Film reviews, favorite vacation spots and my own version of the “365 Daily Challenge.” Since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a characteristic either I currently embody or one I’d like to embody in the future. 365 days of reflection to discover who I am and what I want out of life… see how you compare! Each month, I will post a summary of a trip I’ve taken somewhere in the world. I’ll cover the transportation, hotel, restaurants, activities, who, what, when, where and why… and let you decide for yourself if it’s a trip worth taking.

Feel free to like, rate, comment or take the poll for each post. Tell me what you think. Note: All content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.